


Tricky Winter Spirits

by lantia4ever



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: 2017, And Then He Doesn't, Angst, Bucky and Tony need a hug, Bucky needs some clothes, Eventual kinda fluff, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Civil War, Pre-Relationship, Suicidal Thoughts, Team Cap are bad bros, Winteriron Holiday Exchange, and bad Winter puns, prompts, with a sprinkle of !crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-18 12:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lantia4ever/pseuds/lantia4ever
Summary: Written for the WinterIron Holiday Exchange! ^^Bucky gets sick of his current company and thinking he'll find an easy way out of his predicament, he sneaks into the Avengers Compound looking for Tony Stark. Little does he know that Tony Stark is also looking for an easy way out of his own predicament and welcomes the former HYDRA assassin with open arms - and drinks they both believe to be their last...HAPPY WINTER HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! <3





	Tricky Winter Spirits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iCheat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iCheat/gifts).



> Prompt: "Tony's alone in the compound and when Barnes arrives he's pretty much resigned to dying. He's not prepared for Barnes to ask for Tony to kill him."  
> Combined with: "Bucky doesn't understand how everyone can just trust Wanda after she willingly joined Hydra. His discovery about what she did to Tony before Ultron only makes it worse."  
> And also with: "It seems like everyone is just waiting for Tony Stark to go villain. Everyone except the villains. And Bucky."
> 
> Hi everyone! So this one is for iCheat, the author of the above prompts that I simply couldn't resist putting together :D Hope you'll like it, dear! ^^ My hand might have slipped in a bit more angst than I planned...on accident...along with some accidental happy, bordering on cracky, ending. I still don't know how to deal with CACW. And Team Cap. Well, Bucky deals with them by the end of this ;D
> 
> Enjoy and have a great winter(iron) time and a Happy New Year! ^^

_//Bucky’s POV//_

 

“He’s bad news,” Wanda’s sharp voice brings Bucky out of his thoughts. For a moment there he believes the comment to be directed at him, but when he startles and snaps his eyes at the Witch he sees her focus is fully on Steve and the conversation they’re having.

It would have probably helped if he hadn’t tuned out all of their voices the second they have settled in their hotel apartment’s living room. He was too lost in his own mind to pay attention to the conversation that started with _something something Tony_.

Bucky quickly found that most of the no-more-fugitive team of Avengers’ conversations start with _something something Tony_.

The last time he checked – oh and he checked the second T’Challa let him use the internet and kept on checking a _lot_ ever since – Tony Stark not only renegotiated the Sokovian Accords so that the Avengers are kept under control, but their own control; he is also the one behind the amnesty issued by the UN for the Avengers that rebelled against the Accords in the first place. And most surprisingly, Tony Stark is behind _his_ amnesty.

In fact, the only reason they are here in New York and not in some prison somewhere is because of Tony Stark.

That fact alone made Bucky’s mind swirl, especially that still very much present part of it that is the Winter Soldier. HYDRA’s deadliest, most efficient weapon. The mass murderer slash assassin with enough blood on his hands to keep Bucky awake at night. Hundreds of people dead by his hands. And in the sea of corpses left in his wake there are two that haunt him the most. The two from that cold December night on a barely lit road covered in snow.

He remembers that night. He remembers all his hits but he remembers that night even more, because in over seventy years he’s been nothing but the Winter Soldier. But that night, Howard Stark looked his soon to be murderer in the face and called him by his name, his real name. And it didn’t stop the Soldier from killing him. The pleas of Stark’s wife did even less. But Bucky remembers every detail of that moment.

He killed them. Mercilessly. Without a trace. Made it look like an accident, even. Then he took something and left without looking back. Mission complete. Two lives extinguished and decades of another life ruined.  

Part of him wanted to let Tony Stark just kill him in Siberia. He deserved every punch he was dealt. And Stark deserved to have justice. Hell, part of him wishes the armored man would burst through the door right now and finish what he only failed at doing because of Steve.

Instead, Stark had all charges against him dropped. Not his or the Avengers’ lawyers - Stark personally crashed the court hearing and all but bullied the committee into dropping the case. Who does that?! Who waltzes into court and makes the judge drop all charges against the man who killed their parents?! Not allegedly, _on tape_! With a confession even!

“Well, he’s gonna have to get his shit together,” Clint adds his bit into the ongoing rant about… _something something Tony_. “And brooding and drinking alone in the compound’s not gonna do it.”

“We’ll figure it out. Together,” Steve nods and if it wasn’t the middle of the day with hundreds of people all over the hotel and around it, Bucky would just flee through the exits right there and then. Or jump through the window, why the hell not.

Stark is not a saint – that much Bucky gathered from his extensive internet research. But he’s also not the devil everyone thinks him to be. All Bucky ever hears from his current company is how Stark has lost his mind and how his moral compass is haywire and the lines between good and bad all blurred.

Yet nobody ever talks about the fact Steve somehow _forgot_ to tell his supposed friend and teammate that his buddy from the 40’s is the one who killed his parents.

Nobody talks about Steve’s part in the whole Avenger’s Tantrum. They call it a Civil war on the internet, but Bucky knows a tantrum when he sees Steve Rogers throw one and that’s what it was – a childish tantrum. Adults are supposed to find solutions, suggest other ways, discus improvements…only children straight up refuse something without ever thinking about offering alternatives.

Which brings Bucky to what absolutely NOBODY is talking about, especially now that they are sitting on the couch, casually talking about how unstable and drunk Tony is somewhere in the Avenger’s base - nobody is talking about Wanda Maximoff. Who Bucky only remembers as the Scarlett Witch – HYDRA trained, enhanced weapon.

Just like him, someone could argue, but there’s still one fairly glaring difference between them.

Bucky didn’t join HYDRA of his own free will, he didn’t train to be the Winter Soldier because he wanted to and he most certainly didn’t kill in HYDRA’s name for all these years on his own accord.

She did. There’s no excuse for that, no matter how sad your story is. And there’s even less excuse to what she’s done to the Avengers during the whole Ultron incident – one that nobody wanted to talk to him about, conveniently. She messed with their heads, in a way only HYDRA would mess with someone’s head. She made the Hulk go rampant on civilians for goodness sake! But here she sits, spewing wisdoms.

Clearly, her allegiance has changed and Bucky can get behind that. Giving people a second chance is proof of great virtue. What he can’t get behind is the fact that everybody seems to be rallying behind her, instead of rallying up to the person that cleaned up this whole mess, made sure nobody but the villain went to prison and even did what Steve, as the leader, should have done – glued Ross to a chair and didn’t let him leave until the Accords were changed into an agreeable format without losing original purpose.

Tony Stark saved the day but it’s obviously not enough. It’s never enough when Stark is involved. He could solve world’s hunger or stop global warming and his current company would still demonize him for reasons Bucky fails to understand. They are supposed to be a team, they are supposed to be friends! Yet here they are, talking about the man as if he was going to be the big villain they’ll have to face next.

“Yeah, good luck with that, Steve. Chances are, he’s gonna snap and blasts us off to space the second we come back to the compound.”

“Or locks us in there… _for our own safety_ ,” Wanda says mockingly and sends Clint an unamused smile that he returns.

And Steve just sighs, places a comforting hand on the Witch’s shoulder and smiles. The usually likable, gentle smile that somehow isn’t as likable as Bucky recalls.

And he’s just about had enough.

Either he is going to snap into the Soldier right here right now and punch everyone until there’s just a bloody carnage left, or he needs to go before option one isn’t just an option but something he doesn’t have any control over.

So without a word he springs up to his feet and runs.

They’re calling after him but before they can blink twice he’s out of the room and moving through the shadows of the hotel’s hallways, his fast pace eventually turning into a stealthy sprint when he hears hurried footsteps trying to follow him.

He can still hear Steve’s panicked calls when he’s already slipped outside and briskly turning a corner to the adjacent street.

And Bucky finds he doesn’t care.

Not enough to turn around and go back. He’s a man on a mission now. He’s been one since HYDRA made him into their soldier, but this time the mission is of his own making. And he’ll see it to an end. _The_ end.

_//Tony’s POV//_

Sipping on his twelfth coffee this evening in the dark and quiet of the Avengers Compound, Tony decides he doesn’t deserve his friends. Seriously doesn’t.

Pepper for instance, she flew in from Japan so fast she must have left burn marks at the conference room she sped out of to the airport. Tony tried to persuade her that the situation is under control, but once everything blew up in the news, she was on the first flight to New York and there was no stopping her.

Things didn’t work out between them and deep inside, Tony feared she would just disappear into the wind once free of him. He said as much when she blasted into the compound’s lab with a fiery glare and got a loud slap and a teary, angry rant as a reply, at the end of which she’d sworn to always be there for him and insisted on staying for a while. As a _friend_.

It’s times like these he really misses Bruce. Mainly because Bruce understands him. Not the technical science mumbo jumbo; he understands Tony as a person. Knows when he’s being serious, when not…when the sarcasm is just a clever ploy to hide form the world. That’s what Tony likes to believe – that the two of them have this understanding of each other that does in fact make them good friends.

Vision is still a bit of a surprise to Tony. He couldn’t stand the android for quite some time, the memories of JARVIS he brought were just too much to take. But Vision was having none of it and constantly materialized in the workshop to chat until Tony couldn’t bring himself to be sad about JARVIS anymore. The best of his first ever AI survives in Vision and even when his more Ultron-ous side shows, Tony can’t help but like him. Be proud of him.

And then there’s Rhodey, his bestest friend forever, soldiering through his injuries but still somehow making most of his days about Tony. Constantly making sure he’s okay, eating, sleeping. It should be the other way around! It _is_ , but at the same time Rhodey just turns it right back at him. As if Tony’s the one who plummeted to the ground so fast he was almost split in half! 

That was Tony’s fault to begin with. Righting wrongs and standing behind his ideas is clearly not his strongest feat. He should have just left it to somebody more qualified.

Like Captain Perfect. Because ‘Murica, fuck yeah, that’s why. Because at the very end of the line of his friends, there’s Steve Rogers. The one friend that made it clear Tony is not deserving. Not worthy of his friendship.

At one point in his life, he strongly believed if Howard ever found the Captain alive, he would grab onto him, adopt him and throw Tony into whatever hole he’d dug the man out of. His father had made it very clear that his son was that big of a disappointment to him.

_If only Tony was more like Captain America._

He bets Howard died with those thoughts still engraved in his mind. Tony couldn’t care less these days. Not really. Not after that freezing cold shower he’s received in Siberia that had nothing to do with the subzero temperatures there. He had plenty of time to think on that concrete ground - battered, broken and bleeding, left alone… _left behind_. And he came to the conclusion that as much as he once wanted to be more like his father’s favored ‘son’, he doesn’t want to be anymore. Not in the least.

People could ask anyone – Rhodey, Pepper, Bruce, even Vision – and they would all agree that Tony can be an asshole sometimes. Clueless, cynical, obnoxious, over the top. He could be a whole lot of similarly flattering adjectives. But he could never stoop as low as Steve Rogers did.

He decided that if Rhodey had been brainwashed into a HYDRA puppeted serial killer, killed Rogers’s parents and Tony would have stumbled upon that little bit of information, he would tell him. Maybe not right away. But as soon as he figured out how and found the right moment, he would tell him. Especially knowing that the two men might meet at one point. It would make for a really awkward meeting if Rogers wouldn’t know and say…an overdressed bad guy of the week decided to taunt him with a VHS recording of the murder.

Tony can vouch for that now, having a firsthand experience with the scenario.

 _Didn’t want to hurt you. Wanted to spare your feelings. Wanted to protect my friend_. _Do what’s right_.

He could fucking cry reading that letter. Not the touched, sad tears, no. The big angry, furious tears. Only Captain America can deliver an excuse and make it sound like an apology. While only being sorry for getting caught in his lie. Tony has no words for that. And no more tears to spare either.

He thought Rogers was his friend. And that was his mistake. He _trusted_ him. And got burned.

What else is new? With the few exceptions, everyone Tony ever considered a friend ended up stabbing him in the back. Well, technically, Obadiah stabbed him in the neck. But the rest of them were definitely backstabs. And Steve’s dagger hit hard and true and just as painfully as Obadiah’s non-metaphorical needle did.

Natasha, who also apparently knew about the whole Winter Soldier versus the elder Starks business and decided not to share, was more of a disappointment than a surprise. Tony likes her, but never allowed himself to trust her. She gave him enough reasons never to even try. So Tony can dismiss her silence and her swapping teams at the airport with a wave of a hand and forget all about it. It’s Natasha, the Russian ninja assassin and who knows what goes around in her head…Tony sure doesn’t.

Out-of-nowhere pissed off Clint, some strange guy who he’s never met but still somehow has an angry hard-on for Tony, plus Rogers’ modern day best friend…and Wanda. Team Cap. The short but prolonging list of people that _hate_ Tony now. And he doesn’t care. The only one he does _somewhat_ care about is the unspoken devil in that team.

The Winter Soldier. James ‘Bucky’ Barnes. His parents’ killer.

Also the guy that spent the last seven decades being tormented by HYDRA in ways Tony doesn’t want to imagine. He doesn’t need to imagine; he’s got the files, he knows what the multi-headed beast had done to him in detail. Too many details for Tony’s liking.

And last, but not least, he’s the guy Tony almost murdered in his avenging frenzy. He was just so… _angry_. Angry at Steve, angry at HYDRA, angry at the world and he just wanted someone to pay. Barnes was an easy target, killing him seemed like a great idea at that very moment.

One blown-off arm, two retreating supersoldiers and thirty minutes bleeding out on the floor later, it didn’t seem like a good idea anymore to Tony. That’s how long it took him to calm down enough to realize that Barnes was a mere weapon that HYDRA wielded to kill his parents with and therefore can’t be blamed for any of it.

Thirty fucking minutes.

It would probably take him even less if he was confronted with the story in a different time and place…say, in the Tower’s common room, sipping on whiskey and listening to his _friend_ telling him all about it. Unfortunately for everyone, Rogers denied him that possibility.

If Tony owes an apology to anyone, it would be Barnes. And his once again lost left arm. He could do something about that of course, if the man would be game. Although he doesn’t expect Rogers to ever let the man into Tony’s presence. And Barnes definitely hates him now, too, so he’d probably just kill him on sight anyway, Soldier mode off even. 

So all he can do now is sit here, alone in the dark again, angry at the world again, thinking about his poor life choices and how maybe dying in that forsaken Siberian bunker would have been oh so much easier than this. How dying any day now wouldn’t be all too bad either. As if there was anything left of his life left he’d want to salvage.

He’s done.

The Accords are rebuilt and signed. The Compound is ready for business again. The Tower is sold. Stark Industries is in good hands and with kids as smart as Peter around, the company might even have a future. No thanks to Tony, Howard would no doubt say. Yeah. What else is there? The Avengers will be back to face the next whatever crises there is and save the world again…and they don’t need him for that. Or want him, to be more specific.

His friends are better off without the mess that he has become and his supposed friends would likely celebrate his demise for days on end. So if there has ever been a time to _accidentally_ use the repulsor on his face, it’s now. Pepper and Rhodey would probably be angry enough to kill him first just for thinking about it. Bruce would turn green and have the Hulk execute some breathtaking, life-affirming cuddles. Vision would be so confused about the concept that he would demand Tony to explain and who is he to deny the young android anything.

But they are not here. No one is here. So there’s –

There’s a Winter Soldier lurking in the shadows by the door. _Why_ is there a Winter Soldier lurking in the shadows by the door?!

Tony stares at the unmoving figure for a long moment in absolute confusion. He makes a double-take at the man and then looks down at the coffee. He could swear it wasn’t Irish. Was it? When he looks up, the other man is still there glued to the spot so he decides his imagination did not simply conjure the Winter Soldier out of thin air by just thinking about him. The man actually _is_ here.

Tony clears his throat, frowning. “Well, this is convenient,” he blurts out.

The man moves… _flinches_ at the sound of his voice and makes the tiniest step forward, just enough so Tony can now make out the features of his face even in the dark. He looks… _broken_ , for a lack of a better word. “’S what I’m thinkin’, too,” he replies, voice low. The accent and those flickering emotions on his face are a clear indication that this is Barnes and not the Winter Soldier.

Looks like he was right about that as well. Barnes hates him all on his own, doesn’t even need to call his evil alter ego up. “So…are we getting straight to the killing business or…is a last drink an option?” he tries to go for a grin but feels his face twist into a strange grimace he probably wouldn’t be able to describe in the mirror. When Barnes shrugs, his eyes digging a hole in the floor, Tony takes it as a yes and shuffles to the bar.

He never really thought about what drink he would like to have before he dies. Whiskey and brandy turn his stomach now, vodka tastes like drinkable toilet sanitizer and casually making a Shirley Temple with his soon to be killer looming nearby is a ridiculous thought. “Oh hey, Becherovka,” he zooms in on the green square bottle and almost chokes on pronouncing the forsaken ‘ch’ sound. “Might as well,” he mumbles and pours a hefty double shot of it into two glasses, leaving one at the edge of the bar closest to the assassin. He moves back to his previous spot on the couch, toasting at Barnes’s direction. “To the Avengers,” he smirks. “Avenging and shit like it’s nobody’s business,” he adds and downs the shot in two gulps. It’s really the end for him when even booze has lost its appeal. Either that or he’s obliterated his taste buds after all these years.

Barnes approaches the bar with unsteady steps and glares at the glass for a solid minute before drinking it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, but through the silence of the room it’s still loud to Tony’s ears. And the raw emotion behind those words is even louder.

It makes him wanna laugh and cry at the same time. In the end, he startles out something akin to a chuckle mixed with a sob and then laughs, humorless and dry. “Don’t be. You’re doing me a favor, really. All the other scenarios I’ve come up with are weird…so yeah, this is… _convenient_.”

Barnes nods, although his resigned face gives way to something that looks like suspicion. “Just…make it quick.”

Quick. That sounds like a plan. “Please do.”

“What?” he reels back, frowning.

“What?” Tony mimics him instantly.

“What d’ya mean?”

“What do _you_ mean what do _I_ mean?!” he gets up, arms crossed under his chest.

He tilts his head, frown deepening. “I told ya to make it quick, so make it quick!”

“Make what quick, asshole, saying my prayers?! Writing my will?! Choosing my poison?!” Tony yells at the assassin, his own resignation melting into anger now.

“ _Killing me_?!” he replies, shocking that anger straight out of Tony’s body. “Had enough of pain…enough torture…so just make it quick,” he explains in a hopeful tone and it’s been a while since something short-circuited Tony’s brain.

This right here’s done it.

For the second time this evening, he does a double-take at the former HYDRA supersoldier, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Wha…what. The. Actual. Fuck?!” he manages to drawl out, getting no reaction from Barnes other than a slight jump. “What do you mean killing _you_ , you’re killing _me_!” he spells it out to him, not bothering to care just how ridiculous it sounds to be arguing about murder here.

“I _am_?!” Barnes blurts out, actually looking mortified this time around.

“ _Aren’t_ you?!” he shoots the question right back at him, walking closer to the assassin.

“No?!”

“Why are you here then?!”

“So _you_ can kill _me_!” Barnes answers, his one remaining hand flailing in the air.

“Why the fuck would I wanna do _that_?!” Tony shrieks oh so very unmanly like and is suddenly glad FRIDAY is offline at the moment, because there better be no evidence of that kinda sound ever leaving his mouth. He’s got reputation to maintain, especially after death! Which is obviously not happening because…because…

“Because I killed your parents!” the man yells, his eyes wild. “Because I’m a murderer! A _HYDRA_ employed murderer! I don’t wanna live with…with what they turned me into, what they made me do?! I’m tired, okay?! I wanna just die, I _deserve_ to die!” he pauses, panting a little. “And you deserve your vengeance so…if it gives you any peace of mind…here I am. I ain’t gonna fight you,” he breathes out and true to his words, all the fight leaves his face just then.

Tony stops his slow advance and just stares.

His usually genius brain struggles to make sense of the situation – and he only had a little glass of Becherovka, so he’s not drunk nor delirious or…losing it. If anything, he’s simply lost. Lost for words.

James goddamn Bucky Barnes has just sneaked into the Compound in the dead of a cold, nearly Christmas night not to kill Tony, or terrorize him, yell at him about the arm…nope; he’s come here to ask Tony to kill him. End his suffering. Finish what he’s started in the bunker. Hell, ask is not even the word, Barnes _begged_ to be killed. Because in his own words, that’s what he deserves.

“That’s fucked up,” he blurts out his innermost thoughts before any brain to mouth filter can be put in place and cringes. “Seriously though. That’s fucked up, what you just said.”

Barnes’s eyebrows twitch into a tiny frown, his gaze still stubbornly not meeting Tony’s. “S’what I am. Fucked up.”

There’s a lot of things Tony feels like answering with, most of it includes yelling and maybe even a punch in the face to switch the lights on in this guy’s head, but being the genius in the room he halts all action in order to really _think_ before he acts.

He could scream all the reasons why Barnes is wrong, give him a wake up punch in his stubbled face…and then he could do the same to himself because he’s equally guilty of this fucked up thought process. The second he recognized Barnes in the dark, there was no doubt in his messed up mind that he’s here to kill him and instead of alerting FRIDAY, jumping into his armor and initiating defenses…he just went with it. Given up to his fate.

That’s what his melancholy was all about tonight after all – giving up. Wanting to die. Not having to go through another war, another villain, another failed rescue, another friend turning their back on him. No more pain. No more torture. A quick way out.

 _No more pain. No more torture. Just make it quick_.

Barnes’s words spread like poison through his memory and dread creeps through his bones as understanding dawns on him.

For all intents and purposes, Barnes should be a complete stranger to him. He knows the stories, the tales from the comic books and from Peggy’s seldom moments of reminiscing. But none of those apply to the man in front of him. Not anymore. Yet Tony feels like he knows him only too well. Because here they are, standing on common ground, their thoughts dancing in tandem.

He doesn’t know what to do with that. What to do with _him_. Shouldn’t there be a Captain America breaking through doors…and walls somewhere close by? He would know what to do; he always knows what to do…where Barnes is concerned. Or maybe he doesn’t.

Because this is not the cocky sniper from the Howling Commandos anymore.

Tony starts backing away from the former soldier, all the way to a nearby wall panel. As he enters all the codes to bring the lights up and re-activate FRIDAY’s access to the room, he decides there’s still something that needs to be done before he kicks the bucket. Or whatever. He’s a genius on a mission now.

Once his eyes adjust to the flood of brightness, he can finally take a proper look at his current company and has to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Of fucking course Barnes came all this way here wearing nothing but a long-sleeved shirt, sweatpants and fluffy slippers from that hotel Team Cap is occupying right now… _good eighty miles away from here_. It’s freezing out there, windy and snowing and this guy just bolts from a hotel wearing just that and goes for almost a hundred miles run to the New York countryside.

So he can ask to be killed.

“Moron,” he shakes his head and judging by the startled flinch from Barnes, the man has heard the mumbled word. Unbelievable. This guy is so…insane, moronic, fucked up and oh so completely relatable to Tony right now that he could cry. “FRIDAY? Say hi to our guest,” he commands, schooling his features into as much neutrality as he can muster.

“ _Good evening, Sergeant Barnes_ ,” she greets the now even more startled man, her voice sounding just as bored as usual though. If she were in his head ten minutes ago, she would be freaking out.

Barnes looks like a deer about to be hit with a monster truck, eyes flying around the room to identify the newcomer.

“This is FRIDAY. She’s an artificial intelligence I’ve created and rebuilt to control the interface of the armor and to oversee this Compound’s status and security,” he explains in a flat tone, walking back to the armchair and sitting down.

Barnes is still not in business of forming words, let alone full sentences, so he just nods with uncertainty embed in every muscle of the motion.

Tony sighs, cursing fate for making him deal with this. “If I wanted you dead, _dumbass_ , you would think FRIDAY would have incinerated you before you even made it past the front door. Wouldn’t ya?”

For the first time tonight, Barnes’s wide eyes lock with his.

“If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead months ago. Wakanda is a shitty place to hide, considering I have designed the entire country’s worth of security measures. That goes for the Raft too, by the way. But I suppose Rogers thinks he’s broken everyone outta there all by himself and T’Challa just offered to give you all refuge out of the goodness of his heart. Well…he did…’cause he’s a good guy,” Tony nods to himself, shifting in his seat. “We have a few things in common, him and I. The major one being that our fathers both met tragic ends at the hands of HYDRA. Or whatever Zemo is. He’s no better than HYDRA, that’s for sure. T’Challa went a bit hardcore at ya…and so have I. And we were both wrong.”

“You were not,” he says after a moment, again with the unnerving calmness in his voice. “You had - ”

“No right whatsoever to go mental on you, beat you up and shoot off your arm. Yep, that’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” Tony interrupts him, fingers tapping against his knee. “I was angry…understandably, too, if I do say so myself. Lil’ heads up from your best friend would have been nice, ya know? Would have…made for a really anti-climactic no-battle and wiped that shit-eating grin right off Zemo’s face. But oh well.”

“I…don’t understand,” he blurts out, his shoulders falling.

What Tony doesn’t understand is how can this usually intimidating mountain of a man be capable of looking like a harmless, lost puppy. “I’m sorry, okay?! I’m sorry! I lost my shit and…you lost your arm. What I don’t… _didn’t_ understand was why aren’t _you_ more pissed about that. And in my most recent genius deduction, I’ve figured we are both absolute idiots,” he explains, letting out a heavy breath. “Here I thought you wanna kill me, there you were thinking I wanna kill you…this is ridiculous!”

The slumped form that is James Barnes shuffles over to the furthest end of the sofa on Tony’s right and sinks into the comfy cushions slowly.

He stares at the ground, shaking his head, but there’s a tiny twist gracing his lips now that could almost be mistaken for a smile. “We really _are_ idiots, aren’t we?”

Tony lets out the breath he’s been holding and sends Barnes a smirk. “Well, you’re the moron who’s not wearing proper shoes and clothes for below zero temperatures so in our Dumb and Dumber duo, _you_ are definitely the Dumber one.”

Barnes regards him with look of pure amusement that comes close to temporarily shutting down Tony’s brain. It appears out of nowhere, but it’s definitely a welcomed change from the hurt and devastation that haunted his features moments ago. Amusement Tony can work with here. “I’m the _Winter_ Soldier. I can run ‘round naked in the cold if I wan’ed to.”

And that right there is a sense of humor Tony can _absolutely_ work with here. He stifles a laugh, glaring at the man but without any force to it. “I bet you could. I bet if you _did_ , this whole encounter would have probably gone even better. I mean what kind of an assassin comes to murder you naked? I’d be like what the fuck?! And you’d be like ‘I’m the Winter Soldier’ and then I’d die of laughter. You should do that next time, seriously. S’gonna be the best entrance!”

The tension in Barnes’s shoulders visibly lessens and seeing him this way is almost like seeing him for the first time ever in Tony’s mind. No trace of the actual Winter Soldier, no fight going on around them, no guns involved…just Bucky Barnes in his pajama get-up casually seated on the other end of the sofa with him.

He could get used to that.

“You’re nuts,” he scoffs.

“The correct phrase is ‘a mad genius’. And yes I am.”

“They’re all idiots,” he whispers to himself.

“Huh?”

“Nothin’. So…you don’t wanna kill me.”

“No. Don’t wanna kill you, don’t hate you…I don’t _know_ _you_ , dude. How about you? Any Tony murder thoughts yet? I did just suggest you go about naked and then made fun of you, that would piss most people off. Apparently just being in my esteemed presence seems to piss most people off.”

He shrugs, the twisty smile reappearing. “I don’t know you, _dude_ ,” he repeats Tony’s words slowly. “Gotta do better if you wanna piss me off. Been always kinda laid back…I think.”

“Wow. No shit. Guy beats you up, shoots your arm off and then tells you to go commando and…you really are pretty chilled about it.”

This time Tony almost high-fives himself when he spots the infamous Bucky Barnes smirk spread on his face, but he’s soon busy laughing his ass off. “Yeah, you could say I’m chilled. ‘Cause I’m the Winter Soldier.”

One laughing fit and cursing spree later, Tony actually finds himself delving into a _chillaxing_ conversation with Barnes – _Bucky_ , as they both insist on first names immediately.

The second Tony realizes Bucky is just as lost as he is, he just relaxes and talks the ear out of the other guy. Bucky seems to relax as well, especially after they carefully touch the whole December 16 situation and finds Tony doesn’t blame him in the least. Doesn’t even blame the Winter Soldier, he honestly tells him.

So in that instant they find a common ground that is them hating the fuck out of HYDRA and sharing the ‘don’t blame the weapon, blame the guy pulling the trigger’ philosophy and just roll with that for the rest of the night. By the time Tony falls asleep – fully aware that there’s a former HYDRA assassin sitting on the same couch in the same room – his thoughts have did a complete one-eighty.

It’s been a shitty day. It’s been shitty few months. And knowing Team Cap is going to likely storm the Compound first thing in the morning, it’s gonna be a shitty tomorrow as well. But clearly Tony is far from being done. He’s got an arm to build, bridges to mend, more Bucky-smirks to cause (for research purposes of course, they just make him feel funny and it requires research to find out why)…he’s _not_ done.

 

* * *

 

 

Tony is _so_ done.

His nightly interlude with Bucky was one thing – thinking about it now during brunch, it was actually the best thing that’s happened to him in months. Started off as possibly the worst thing to have happened to him in months, but ended up being the best.

He’s made a new friend – that alone is fanfare worthy – and of all people in the world it’s Bucky. He should be more skeptic about it. More afraid, paranoid. His hands almost always get burned when it comes to his _friends_.

Maybe it’s the rocky start this new, tentative friendship had, but something tells Tony that when it comes to Bucky he doesn’t need to worry. It’s his gut feeling that he so often ignores in order to science shit out instead. This time, he feels like listening.  

Mostly because just as he predicted, Team Cap barges into the common kitchen slash dining room while he’s half-way through his eggs and toasts and without saying as much as a hello, Cap demands – _demands_ Tony helps them search for Bucky. Tony’s nowhere near his Zen status just yet and wants nothing else but smash the rest of his breakfast into Rogers’s face…and maybe even finish it off with the steaming cup of coffee, but both options are just a damn waste of a good meal and beverage.

Just as he’s forming some clever remark, mouth already open and ready to go off, in comes Bucky to steal every coherent thought away from Tony – and everyone else.

Tony pauses mid breath intake and just gapes at one very much still here and very much naked Bucky Barnes. It’s Team Cap’s facial expressions that push him to a brink of yet another laughing fit but he quickly slaps one hand against his mouth and takes a much needed double take at the scene.

Bucky gives everyone a confused look – in Wanda’s case a stern glare that was more Soldier than Bucky – and casually walks over to the fridge, takes a bottle of orange juice, turns back around and shrugs. “Wha’sup?” he asks the team, that’s yet to recover from their shock, and with practiced ease he nearly bites off the cap off the bottle and takes a long swig.

While Tony notes down that Bucky Barnes does _not_ need his second arm in order to be badass – and wills his eyes not to start… _wandering_ – Steve finally reboots his vocabulary and points a lost finger at Bucky. “What…we’ve been looking for you the whole night and…we…Bucks, you’re naked!” he flails, pointing out the obvious.

Bucky’s straight face cracks into the brilliant, cocky smirk Tony seriously needs to see more of and he shrugs again. “I’m the Winter Soldier, punk. Got a problem?”

The comeback makes no sense whatsoever, but Tony all but explodes with laughter, bits of toast and eggs flying around, and once he catches Steve’s horrified bordering on offended face, he’s done. So. Fucking. Done.

Bucky ignores his choked, wheezing laughter, but nods in clear satisfaction as he sits down at the table and steals the rest of his breakfast for himself. His smirk melts into a curious smile, eyes crinkling with something…new. And it’s all aimed at Tony, who almost doesn’t spot it through the tears.

By the time he calms down and catches his breath, Team Cap is still awkwardly standing by the entrance and Bucky’s moved to the stove to fire up some more eggs, wearing Vision’s cute Hulk-themed apron. Which doesn’t do much covering in the back at all.

So Tony allows himself a scientific look. Or two. And looks at the returned ex-fugitives. “So…wha’sup?” he beams at them – knowing it will only piss them off more, but why would he even care. He can deal with them later. He might even know _how_ to deal with them.

But for now he’s going to enjoy their stunned, speechless faces, the smell of frying eggs and the gentle, musical humming Bucky emits in the background. 

_xxx_


End file.
